Darrowby | The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

This continues the post of our walk over hill and dale from Grassington to Hebden and back to Grassington along the River Wharfe. The whole walk was closer to 6 miles than 4 miles but the steps that Laura’s device clocked were 20,077! This was on Thursday September 21, 2023.

We left our cozy Pub and headed through the village towards the River Wharfe.

The Old School Tea Room, Hebden. Family run, traditional but quirky tea room. Gifts, crafts and cards also available. School dates back to 1874 and the old bell still chimes every hour! (Laura, we missed going in here)

Hebden suspension bridge: The bridge, next to stepping stones, was built in 1884 to connect Hebden with Thorpe after a man drowned trying to cross the Wharfe. Nearby Burnsall Bridge, also on the river, had been swept away in a storm the previous year. The new bridge was built by the Hebden blacksmith using 262 yards of redundant steel rope from the old lead mines. It was restored in 2014/15.

If my hips were any bigger I wouldn’t have been able to squeeze through here! 🙂

The water at Linton Falls was in full force due to the storms the day before.

It was tempting to go down this lane and investigate Linton Church and village but our feet said no.

Back in town we treated ourselves to some famous Love brownies and got a recommendation for dinner and made reservations. As if we didn’t have enough steps in already to strolled in town and did some last minute shopping before we got ready for dinner.

Our dinner this evening at the Grassington House would be in honor of Greg’s 70th birthday, a treat from Josh and Laura.

Cheers to Pops on 70 years!

It was a lovely dinner and an American couple from Utah stopped by the table for conversation since they noticed we were from the States, too.

After dinner we took some evening shots for our memories.

We were thankful for being able to walk in sunshine with glorious blue skies and fluffy clouds and to see the wonderful landscape of a portion of the Dales. Capping the evening off with a delicious meal was a nice treat.

Although there was talk of taking part in Quiz Night at The Devonshire we all opted to tuck in and rest our feet and legs and get ready for Day 8 of our trip.

From Ripon on Wednesday the 20th of September we continued on our journey to our final destination for the next couple of nights, Grassington. This part of our journey was a short 22 miles on B6265.

Grassington is the home of the fictional market town of Darrowby in All Creatures Great and Small, the 2020 television series set in 1937. Based upon the classic James Herriot books written by Alf Wight which follow the adventures of a young country vet in Yorkshire. Click here for more information on this charming town.

We would be staying at the Devonshire for Wednesday and Thursday nights. We were very happy to find a parking spot in this very popular market square. If we hadn’t we would have had to park at the Grassington National Park Visitor Center. We checked into our rooms in time to freshen up and have a walk about the town before our dinner reservations.

We had the Darrowby Suite and our kids had the Tristan Farnon room.

It was nice to be in a small quiet village with everything we needed at our doorstep.

We were glad we had made reservations for dinner because things filled up fast and the seats were full.

After dinner we regrouped in the bar area to play Phase 10. All the seats in the Inn were full with people and many with their 4 legged friends. Some were well behaved and others…not so much.